Note: Fastar! is currently available in some international App Store markets, and will be appearing for download in others throughout the day until it finally arrives in the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST. In the interest of our readers abroad, we've published our review early. If iTunes is telling you that Fastar! isn't available in your region, simply check back later.

I'm happy to report that Fastar!, or Fight Angry Squares: The Action RPG, is a ridiculous amount of fun. So much so, that working up the motivation to stop playing the game to actually write this review has been something I've spent the better part of this afternoon doing and once I'm done I'm going to go right back to working on completing a hard mode run through, despite the fact that the siren call of StarCraft II has been taunting me to actually play it since it came out this Tuesday.

The object of Fastar! is delightfully simple. Basically, all you do is run to the right, kill everything that moves, collect coins, spend those coins on upgrades, and make it to the finish as quickly as possible. What makes Fastar! so much fun is the insane amount of variety in the game. While all the enemies you will come across are squares of different sizes and colors, they all behave differently. Some are extremely aggressive and lunge right towards you as soon as they appear on screen, while others will do everything they can to avoid your attacks including jumping clear over your character's head. There are giant squares that move slow but do tons of damage, very fast moving small squares, and the different squares can even use the several magical spells included in the game. It's really strange how much personality these squares manage to have, and how you get to know them once you spend some time with the game. (Argh, damn you, green squares!)

On top of all the different enemies, there are 24 different game modes which all manage to feel different even though the gameplay itself is essentially the same. For instance, there are three standard game modes ranging from easy to hard that provide the "classic" Fastar! experience which pits you up against various enemies to complete the game as fast as possible. Alternatively, there is "profit" mode which emphasizes making money and puts the player to the task of collecting as much money as possible in five minutes, "showdown" mode where you fight 25 enemies as quickly as possible, "sudden death" mode where you only have 50 hit points and basically one hit will kill you, and many others. I'm preferring "arena" mode which is a survival mode of sorts with an endless supply of squares to kill with high scores measured by the number of rounds you're able to survive.

The RPG elements of Fastar! are fairly basic, but do the trick just fine. At points throughout the game, you'll be given the option to upgrade your character. For instance, in the standard game modes you come across towns, or in the "arena" mode a store pops up every 10 rounds. From there, you're able to spend the coins you've collected on boosting your offense or defense as well as healing yourself. This adds yet another layer of complexity on top of this seemingly simple game as you're forced to make decisions such as running back to the previous town to heal at the cost of lost time, or running forward hoping to run across one before dying, thus ruining your entire run.

At the start of each game mode you can choose one of nine magic spells to use on your quest (except in "battlemage" mode where you can choose two). These spells cover the standard array of RPG spells such as fire or lighting attacks to damage opponents, temporary defense boosts, healing, and there's even a spell to instantly warp you back to the previous village. Activating these spells is as easy as tapping a button in the top right corner of the screen, and each spell uses different amounts of power which is displayed in a gauge that slowly refills over time.

The best part about Fastar! is how far above and beyond Cat in the Box games went with polishing this game before its release. I know how incredibly cliche it is to describe a game as "polished" and I hate doing it, believe me, but I can't think of a more accurate way to describe all the little touches here and there that combine to make Fastar! even more awesome. Every part of your Fastar! character is customizable with different colors, and each game mode has its own online leaderboard where your little dude appears exactly how you tweaked him out along with showing which spell you chose for your adventure. There's even four different control modes to play with on-screen controls, swiping, tilting, or one handed.

Fastar! also behaves fantastically as an iPhone game, a pet peeve of mine that far too many games fall victim to. It loads quickly, resumes quickly, and saves your progress exactly where you left off when you quit the game to do something else. It even remembers the last game mode you chose to play and has a big button to mash to replay that mode on the main menu. The game over screen is even fun, as just like when the squares explode in to glorious showers of coins, your character does as well when he's finally slain, and the square that killed you hops on top of your corpse then back and forth collecting all your loot.

The thread in our forums is filled with people in love with the game, and I can't help but agree. Fastar! is a ton of fun, and has all the quick pick-up-and-play-ability of App Store classics like Doodle Jump with a level of depth and complexity that makes Fastar! a blast to play in both the quick game modes that barely last for a minute, and the long difficult game modes that can last for hours… And on top of that, it's launching for a buck.

Anyway, I've spent far too long reviewing this game and can't handle listening to the epic background music of Fastar! loop any more from my phone sitting here on my here desk without playing it. I've got to get back to getting far too involved in slaying squares, yelling at my phone as they drop coins, then eventually getting greedy and dying before reaching the goal. (Or at least that's how the majority of my day has gone so far.)

App Store Link: Fastar!, 99¢ - Not available in all regions yet, will be available for purchase in the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST

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The original Hero of Sparta [$1.99 / Free / HD] was a technically innovative hack and slash adventure game released in late 2008 when the App Store was still in its infancy and large-scale 3D games were few and far between. In our review we called the original "visually impressive and fun". In the Hero of Sparta series, you play as Argos, a Spartan hero, who has to make his way through endless hordes of monsters. Much like the God of War trilogy which the Hero of Sparta series is heavily "inspired" by, along the way you'll fight massive bosses, execute finishing moves via touchscreen quick action sequences, and eventually master the combo system to turn opposing enemies in to pulp.

Hero of Sparta II [$6.99] offers a significant graphical improvement over its predecessor and is packed with new powers and weapons to use while murdering everything that moves. If you enjoyed the first installment, it's safe to say you will also have a blast with the second one as well. If you haven't heard of the Hero of Sparta games before, give the lite version of the original game a spin to see how much you enjoy it.

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“The Weathered Underground is a LIVE ACTION ‘choose your own adventure style’ interactive film for your mobile device (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) where you choose what happens next. The shredding pop comedy stars Michael Ciriaco and Brea Grant (Daphne on NBC’s Heroes) and has 100′s of choices, dozens of endings and you can play for over 4/12 hrs without getting the same plot line.”

That pretty much says it all, really. If the full-motion video games of the mid-’90s didn’t have enough shredding pop comedy stars for your taste, maybe now you can give the genre another shot with The Weathered Underground ($0.99). Note also that its soundtrack is “100% Hipster Certified,” in case you were wondering.

I don’t know what to think about this. I love FMV games, of course, but this one has the potential to be annoyingly self-aware, as the trailer above aptly demonstrates.

On the other hand, I have to admire any game that presents players with a choice between “Crack House” and “Dumpster.” And for this week only, it’s available for 99 cents. I’ll admit it, I’m tempted.

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

• Price: $7.99 (Download full version or free Lite demo)
• Version: 1.0
• Official Site: LucasArts

You might have heard of Monkey Island 2 before; probably in reverent tones. Maybe you’ve heard it was an important tent-pole game that helped define and progress the adventure genre. Well, I would argue that credit is more deservedly bestowed upon its predecessor, The Secret of Monkey Island.

Maybe you heard it was a shining example of just how well great comedy can work in a video game, despite how often we see it fail. Well, I would again have to argue, this time naming its successor, The Curse of Monkey Island, as the more prominent exemplar.

Where does that leave LeChuck’s Revenge? Well, aside from being a solid entry in one of the most beloved classic gaming franchises, it’s a pretty great game in its own right. It’s also nearly 20 years old now, and the shiny new coat of paint applied to the Special Edition doesn’t completely hide its age.

The pretty new HD artwork and excellent voice-overs go a long way toward making this game more accessible to the modern gamer. However, Monkey Island 2 expects a much greater deal of patience than most of us have become accustomed to. That may sound funny coming from an endgame World of Warcraft player, but there’s no constant progression of minor rewards meant to trigger the addiction-like response found in most modern offerings.

The biggest gameplay reward Monkey Island 2 offers is a sense of satisfaction derived from besting a puzzle that was presented without the solution being blindingly obvious or explicitly spelled out by an NPC. While this is certainly a good thing, many of the puzzles in Monkey Island 2 (like most of its contemporaries) are completely obtuse.

The special edition adds a hint system to help compensate for some of the ridiculous logical leaps, but it’s largely useless.  After you’ve resorted to trying every available permutation of actions (or just consulted a FAQ), all too often your reaction is not the “I should have known!” usually following a revelation; rather, it’s a contemptuous indignation that the developer would expect you to have come up with that solution by yourself.

If you can stick it out through the stumpers, though, you’ll be treated to loads of humorous dialog, beautifully-realized locations, and a few memorable characters all wrapped up in an engaging story.

The game’s excellent writing is more than enough to completely forget any indignities you’ve suffered at the hands of the puzzle designers. It’s not an experience everyone will enjoy, but it is easily recommended to anyone who values story in their games.

When compared with most other games available on the App Store, Monkey Island 2 sports exceptionally high production value. However, this is a multi-platform game, and the iPhone/iPod Touch port is actually the inferior version of the title.

While the direct-touch control scheme is a wonderfully natural way to play the game, the small form-factor of the device will require a whole lot of careful re-positioning of your meaty digits to select the smaller items. This issue may be alleviated in the iPad version, but as this reviewer remains woefully ‘Padless, I am forced to leave confirmation to the reader.

Fans of the original should be even more cautious about purchasing this version; while the special-edition HD artwork looks great on the iPhone, the once-beautiful VGA graphics wind up looking like a pixelated mess when scaled to a new aspect ratio to fit the screen. Even worse for the nostalgists, the developer commentary added to the console and PC versions of the Special Edition is nowhere to be found on the iPhone.

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition is an excellent update to a well-loved classic that remains largely entertaining almost two decades later. However, unless portability is an important factor, I would recommend interested parties pick up the PC version instead.

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Sega has released a number of classic Genesis games on the App Store- Sonic the Hedgehog [$5.99], Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [$5.99], Golden Axe [$2.99], Streets of Rage [$2.99], and as of last night, Ecco the Dolphin [$2.99] and Space Harrier II [99¢]. In the past we've been increasingly critical of Sega releasing these emulated games, as while the games wrapped in the emulator are undoubtedly classics, the emulator itself leaves much to be desired.

Revisiting these games with my iPhone 4 has revealed that Apple has finally released hardware that is fast enough to properly run Sega's emulator (although I have had weird crashing issues with Sonic 2). If you've got an iPhone 4, the games run substantially better than the 3GS/3rd generation iPod touch, leaving the touch controls as the only issue. If you're stuck in the world of the iPhone 3G or 2nd Generation iPod touch, you're still better off skipping all of these because the performance really isn't that great. The games are playable, yes, but not a good experience by any means.

Anyway, Ecco the Dolphin is an action adventure side scroller released on the Sega Genesis in 1992. In the game you play as a dolphin, ramming in to things and using your sonar to both talk to other friendly sea creatures and interact with various objects in the game world. When I played the game the first time around on my Genesis, I thought it was surprisingly difficult as you need to manage Ecco's air supply while navigating vast underwater mazes. Drowning over and over was not something I was expecting to get myself in to when I first saw the cute box art.

There's a fairly extensive library of clips on YouTube of people playing the game in various emulators:

Ecco the Dolphin is just as much of a classic as the other games Sega has released, and really should be played by anyone who considers themselves a gamer who hasn't yet. If you want to go back in time even further, Space Harrier II was a launch title for the Genesis and debuted with the system in mid-August of 1989. Like most games of the time, Space Harrier II came packed with a nonsensical story where you're searching out a distress call from the 214th sector in the year 6236. You run around on a pseudo-3D checkerboard landscape shooting your laser at anything that crosses your path.

Like Ecco, there are no shortage of Space Harrier II gameplay videos captured from various emulators on YouTube:

Space Harrier II hasn't aged as well as the other classics Sega has released, but it's still pretty cool to take a look at what was considered cutting-edge mind blowing graphics over 20 years ago. But like all these games, the touch controls of the Genesis emulator on the iPhone aren't ideal and the framerate is low on older devices. Because of this, they're all hard to really recommend, but at least they exist in some form on the App Store if you're determined to revisit these classics on your iPhone.

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One of the coolest things about the App Store is the sheer amount of obscure ports it exposes us iOS gamers to that we would have otherwise missed. Prior to the news of the iOS port hitting our forums, I had never heard of Battle for Wesnoth [$4.99 - iPhone / iPad] and tonight its creators are unleashing another open source game on to the App Store, Frogatto & Friends [$1.99]. Frogatto is a platformer with some of the most blatant classic video game influences I've seen in quite some time, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Everything from the style of the fantastic pixel art that makes up the game, to the way Frogatto deals with enemies, to interface elements all seem to be lovingly lifted from memories of the sixteen bit era. In the game you play as a tiny unemployed frog who sets out for adventure and employment. It doesn't take long before the villain of the game, Big Bad Milgram, is revealed, and your sights are set on restoring order to the world. Fighting through various boss fights, solving puzzles, and making your way through tons of enemies and platforming obstacles are all vital parts of Frogatto & Friends.

Much like Battle for Wesnoth, Frogatto is freely available online to play on either Mac or Windows machines (as well as some out of date Linux builds). It's really a toss up as to which version is better, as platformers like this really need the physical controls that playing on a keyboard provide. On the other hand, the iPhone port is great, but I'd really love to see some better game save handling.

Currently if you quit the game for any reason, you lose your progress from the last save point. Save points are plentiful throughout the game, but I really think we're at a point now where if you're releasing something more than a simple time waster you should really include better save state handling. Even using fast app switching loses your progress, which is a total bummer given how awesome it has been with iOS 4 to quickly and easily switch between checking your email or browsing the internet while playing a game.

If you can get past losing a little bit of progress if you quit the game, Frogatto is totally worth checking out. I've been completely captivated by both the art of the game, and the game world itself; so much so that while playing through the other games that have been released tonight to write about I kept wanting to go back to Frogatto & Friends. I'm a total sucker for games like this, and I doubt I'm alone on that. If nothing else, at least give the free PC version a try.

UPDATE: The developers have posted in our forums that they're looking in to the save issues when the app is quit, and it sounds like only some people are experiencing the problem. Much like Battle for Wesnoth, they plan on maintaining and improving Frogatto with updates.

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When playing games or watching films, I'm not typically the type to get scared. Those surprise moments that are designed to make you jump don't even draw a flinch from me, and horror movies in general usually elicit more laughter than fear. So I was certainly taken aback when I found that a little iPhone game, Prisoner 84 from Hidden Games to be exact, actually had me on the edge of my seat with paranoia due to its unsettling atmosphere. As far as gameplay is concerned, there's nothing utterly mind blowing as on a whole it's rather simplistic, although certainly above average. But based on the overall feelings Prisoner 84 can invoke and how well suited to the iPhone it is, it's an experience that really captures your imagination.

The game takes place on an offshore prison where you play as prisoner 84. You awaken in solitary confinement to find that everyone in the prison is either dead or has become some form of undead. Gruesome and disturbing images wait for you around every corner. Your goal is to escape the prison, and along the way find out about your past and why exactly you've been sent to this prison. If you were to judge the game based on screenshots alone, you would likely not be impressed. The character models are blocky and lack detail, but for good reason. Every enemy has a complete skeletal structure underneath their outer skin and clothing. So blasting away at them will slowly chip off pieces of their flesh, exposing parts of their skeleton until they're finally put down for good. It's a really satisfying and neat effect, but at the expense of detailed character visuals.

The environments are a different story, and are what really makes Prisoner 84 shine. The standout feature is the lighting system, which creates a stark contrast of shadows throughout the game. Every light source reflects accurately on prisoner 84 as he makes his way through the maze-like prison, and the lighting does wonders to make you forget that the character models are less than stellar. Of equally high quality is the sound design, and while there's no music playing during the game, the soundtrack is comprised of haunting audio effects that fit the game perfectly. Distant moans or mechanical banging will come out of nowhere, and footsteps change from sharp and echoing to sticky and gross as you walk through a trail of blood.

This exceptional atmosphere that Prisoner 84 creates would be nothing without gameplay to go with it, and the game delivers fairly well on this front. From a third-person perspective, you control 84 with a small d-pad for movement and swipe the screen to aim. The d-pad is serviceable, albeit kind of funky, but the swipe to aim is nearly flawless. 84's movement is deliberately slow, but a quick double-tap of the forward arrow makes him move at a faster pace. There's a single button for firing your weapon, and a context sensitive button that will appear if you are next to something in the environment that can be interacted with. An inventory button resides in the upper corner and takes you to a screen where you can keep tabs on the puzzle items you've obtained and the weapons, outfits, and other collectible items that are in the game.

One of the things that really draws you into Prisoner 84 is the minimalist approach to the UI and other traditional game elements. There's no aiming reticule, rather where the barrel of your gun points is the direction you'll fire. Also there isn't any life indicator other than your character's diminishing appearance as he has damage inflicted upon him. Other nice touches really make you feel as though you're playing the game through 84's perspective, like actually touching and dragging a security card through a terminal or placing a key in the keyhole and turning it to unlock doors and lockers. Some may call this gimmicky, but to me it's a refreshing change from the by-the-numbers approach of similar games, and shows some ingenuity on the part of the developer for making the most of the touch screen interface.

With all my praise for Prisoner 84, it certainly does have drawbacks. I can accept the low poly characters since it allows for the skeletal damage system, as well as ensuring the game runs smoothly on all devices, but they do stick out like a sore thumb. The puzzles in the game are really basic, mostly consisting of collecting an item that has an obvious use later in the game. And as far as enemy AI is concerned, well, it barely exists. You can be blasting away at a baddie, with another a mere couple feet away that stands like a statue as if nothing were going on right next to him. But the game's focus is squarely on exploration and discovery, with the combat and puzzle elements taking somewhat of a backseat. In this way Prisoner 84 still succeeds as an enjoyable experience in spite of the negatives.

In regards to the horror game genre, Prisoner 84 really nails the important points, which is mainly a bone chilling atmosphere. It's certainly not the greatest action or puzzle game there is, but the exploration factor is truly compelling. As such, it certainly won't appeal to everybody, and I know for a fact that some people just don't dig these types of slow paced games. But for me, it's one of the most interesting and unique experiences I've had on the iPhone, and the comments in our forum are overwhelmingly positive. The fact that the entire game was created by a two man development team makes it all the more impressive, and they obviously have a very clear vision of what games like this are supposed to be like. Quibbles aside, Prisoner 84 offers a great amount of entertainment for the price, and proves that you don't need a big screen or a big budget to bring a scary good time to players.

Note: There is a known crashing bug at a couple points in the game when inputing a 3 digit security code into a computer by way of sliding each number in place for 3 seconds. The game has a tendency to crash during this event, but since the game automatically saves each time you enter a new room, you won't lose much progress. Repeating the code entry will get it to eventually work, so it shouldn't impede your progress, and the developer is already working on a fix for this.

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We've posted about Sword of Fargoal [$3.99] and its iPad counterpart Sword of Fargoal Legends [$6.99] numerous times now, even including it in our Best iPhone Games of 2009 listing. The thread on our forums has been going strong since March, and is filled with close to 2000 posts of people suggesting new features and telling tales of their adventures, with the developers participating constantly in the discussion.

From reading comments we get on articles, as well as endlessly pouring over our forums, it seems above all what our community seems to unanimously love is any developer who sticks with their game, and there is a short list of developers I can even think of who have done as much with their games as the Fargoal team has done over the life of Sword of Fargoal. Since its initial release on the iPhone, all kinds of new items and treasures have been added, along with new monsters, sound effects, potions, dungeon levels, and graphical effects. New traps have been thrown in, as well as multiple difficulty levels to make the game both more forgiving to new players and more brutal to veterans.

This latest update adds high resolution graphics, allowing players with iPhone 4's to enjoy the game at full Retina Display resolution. If you've been following the development of the game, specifically its pre-iPhone origins, it's really great to see how far Fargoal has come while still maintaining a retro feel. The original Sword of Fargoal was a 40×22 ascii game that ran on the Commodore 64, which can be seen in the bottom corner of the following comparison screenshot:

On the horizon for Fargoal in future updates is a complete overhaul of the random dungeon building system. Instead of the current 40×30 tile area that every dungeon floor is made of, floors can be any length and width. The developers are hoping that this will give Fargoal a much more "architectural" feeling to the dungeon generator. Dungeon generation is also said to be getting more purposeful, with things like guard rooms, store rooms, underground lairs, vaults, oubliettes, and other rooms for players to come across.

There is going to be more environmental interaction and danger outside of combat, and with these two things are coming even more descriptive text to help set the scene a little better. Fargoal will also eventually have an even wider variety of monsters that vary in intelligence and ability. Some will even use battle tactics and strategy, with certain enemies organizing with other enemies when appropriate to quicken your demise.

If you haven't updated Sword of Fargoal recently, now is a great time to do so. If you still haven't downloaded Sword of Fargoal, it's among the best roguelikes available on the App Store, and certainly the most approachable, especially with the recent difficulty settings. Sword of Fargoal is one of my favorite games, and it's really easy to recommend, especially with how committed the developers have been to both updating the game in the past and continue to update it in the future.

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Back in April of last year we ran a story about mobile developer ZodTTD's announcement of the forthcoming platform puzzle adventure game Wizzley Presto and the Mysterious Time Machine. What made the project interesting was the fact that the developers set a goal to complete the development of the game within 30 days, publicly documenting their progress along the way at 30daygame.com.

A cool element of this project is the blog. We are doing this game in 30 days, from an idea to a finished product for AppStore. Best of all we’re showing all of what is involved along the way. Expect lots of interesting posts for all those who wonder what it’s like programming a game on the iPhone & iPod Touch!

Early this month the game (renamed Wizzley Presto and the Vampire's Tomb) went live in the App Store [link]. But hey — wait a minute — that's a lot more than 30 days! I contacted the developers to find out what gives.

I spoke with project programmer Craig Rothwell, who also happens to be the person behind the OpenPandora handheld and the iControlPad iPhone accessory. He indicates that he achieved "mission accomplished" within 30 days, as planned, but the decision was made to expand the title into something overall more complete.

We did indeed complete the 30 day game but it was rather nice and we decided rather than releasing it then as a 'tech demo' we would like to make it bigger and better.

Now one thing a lot of people don't realise is that 90% of 'full' games which have development started are never finished, team members get bored, people move to other projects, the steam runs out and the 'on no! real work!' syndrome starts. Fortunately I've worked on games before (for the Gameboy color and GBA) so I knew how to just knuckle down and get on with it, sleepless nights and all.

So over the space of 8 months we worked on a proper plot, scenes, monsters and dialogue.

By Christmas 2009, the game was ready to go — as developed and tested in the iPhone simulator — but, when it was loaded onto an actual device, it didn't work. (The simulator is not the perfect testing ground…) Work began to get the game running on actual metal, and in March a few extra features (such as egg throwing) were added in before submission to Apple. And, after a rejection / resubmission snafu, Wizzley Presto has landed in the App Store.

It's a pretty nice title, actually. It features extremely impressive oldschool artwork reminiscent of  by pixel artist Ruckage along with a nice audio track. The goal of the game is to traverse screen after screen of obstacle, puzzle, and enemy-laden platforms, by way of button touch controls, in order to make it through all three "chapters," each bringing a save point. It's not so much a Turrican or Mario affair, but more a modestly-paced puzzle solving experience reminiscent of the classic Dizzy series. Stand on a switch to activate a sliding bridge, find the appropriate tool to make it past an obstacle, etc. Less arcade action and more problem solving. Kind of a Babylonian Twins — without the twins, to reference an existing iPhone title.

Wizzley Presto and the Vampires Tomb is lovely, clever, and quite enjoyable. I'm pleased the team took the extra time needed to build the game up to its current form. And, if you have what it takes to be the first to finish the challenge, the developers have a $1,500 prize waiting for you.

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Puzzle-Adventure isn’t a massive gaming genre, but this is about as good an example as you’re likely to see on the iPhone. Developed by Clickgamer, Helsing’s Fire is a dark and foreboding puzzle game set in gothic Victorian times.

Professor Helsing has teamed up with his assistant Raffton and you’ll need to use all your wits to help them defeat Dracula’s vampire minions. By moving Helsing’s torch to light up different monsters, you then need to dispatch them in the correct order using a combination of Raffton’s tonics. The puzzles are quick, but the gameplay is addictive and entertaining.

Featuring 90 unique levels set across three worlds, there is a huge amount of content to navigate through in Helsing’s Fire. Each of the levels are distinct and are populated by a number of different monster types and bosses.

The graphics in Helsing’s Fire are simple and understated, the game music atmospheric and engaging. A solid offering for just $0.99

Helsing’s Fire is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and requires iPhone iOS 3.0 or later.

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It was just a couple weeks ago that we were previewing the iPad version of the iPhone hit Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. At the time, developer Tiger Style had yet to submit this enhanced version of their critically acclaimed game. Well, good news Spider fans, as since that preview the game had been submitted and approved, and is now available for download from the App Store. As mentioned, this version includes some extra features that set it apart from it's iPhone counterpart. From our preview:

Like similar HD releases, Spider HD is little more than the iPhone game with the resolution of everything cranked up to fill the screen of the iPad. This allows you to see much more of your surroundings, making clues regarding the secrets of Bryce Manor much easier to spot than on the iPhone version, where your somewhat limited viewpoint could result in missing certain things if you weren't properly exploring some levels. Also, like most games built around fantastic art, the entire game experience is so much better in high resolution.

All four of the game modes from the iPhone game are included, as well as a brand new two player "sidekicks" game mode where two spiders are on screen, and each spider is controlled by the finger nearest to it. It's actually a surprising amount of fun, as like most games played in cooperative mode it's entirely up to you whether you want to help each other build webs, or simply race all over the screen trying to munch up bugs before the other player.

This developer video demonstrates the high resolution visuals, larger play area, and iPad exclusive same-device multiplayer:

If you're an iPad owner who's never played Spider, then now is the best time to become familiar with the franchise as Spider: Bryce Manor HD seems to be the definitive version of the game.  Besides the additions mentioned above, it also includes all the Director's Cut content that was added to the iPhone version towards the end of last year.  As always, further impressions are being collected in the game's forum thread.

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As long-time readers are surely aware, I'm a retro gaming nut and, within that classification, am a particular fan of the roguelike / dungeon crawler genre. Gamers like me were handed real treat early last year when ChronoSoft released Rogue Touch [App Store], an iPhone adaptation of / enhancement to the 1980 genre-defining Rogue. One of my absolute favorite iPhone games, Rogue Touch really takes me back to those long hours spent in front of Rogue on my Atari ST back in 1987.

Developer Kevin Hill has done a great job of updating the game since its initial release, and in ways strongly shaped by the user community in the Touch Arcade forums, Kevin tells me. He's just released version 1.52 of Rogue Touch [link] that addresses iOS 4 performance issues along with a number of other enhancements:

• Hotfix for daemon saving issue at home button press / incoming call answer
• iOS 4 speed improvements (any device will play faster now!)
• Nymphs no longer steal the *last* item of your pack, but a truly random magic item from you
• Venus Flytraps now prevent you from going down stairs if held in their vines
• Scroll of Safe Passage fixed- it would actually *hide* previously found traps without disarming them. Not anymore!
• Tweaks to search messages (scrawlings and gold in cracks will be less frequent)
• Slimes will no longer split when hit with a War Hammer
• Knockback Attacks! You have a chance to push back a monster with each successful blow you strike! The chance grows with increased strength and higher experience levels. Monsters that get pushed into a wall or another monster take additional damage!

It's great to see the game continue to evolve and, in fact, Kevin indicates that the version 1.5.3 update will be submitted this week, offering Retina Display text-support, Fast App Switching / Multitasking support, even faster speeds under iOS 4, and maybe a new magic item or two. But that's not all the news he had to share from the world of Rogue Touch…

The developer, alongside his forthcoming Spirit Hunter Mineko, is presently working on Rogue Touch EX, a take on the formula that should have greater appeal to more casual gamers than the original.

Rogue Touch EX is a side project. It is planned to be a more slick, streamlined experience utilizing knowledge gained in working on Spirit Hunter Mineko this year. The “EX” stands for enhanced and extended. Core gameplay will remain “Rogue”, but the presentation will be unlike any version of Rogue ever seen. The fact is most people find rogue-likes unappealing to look at, but may actually enjoy the game if given a chance. Rogue Touch EX and Spirit Hunter Mineko are different takes on the idea of making a more appealing experience.

Major features of Rogue Touch EX, as listed by the developer:

• Professional sprite artwork and more animation, improved lighting effects, everything presented on screen using OpenGL for fluid motion
• It will be a universal app, with high resolution support on iPad and iPhone 4 Retina Display
• An analog / swipe anywhere control scheme, improved context actions, and inventory system
• Gamecenter support

Rogue Touch EX is in the early stages right now, and should see an App Store release sometime later this year. Fans of the original can rest assured that it will continue to evolve alongside the new title. We'll keep readers informed as more details emerge surrounding all of ChronoSoft's works in progress.

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While it’s been a quiet week in terms of new iPhone releases, the iPad has seen a pair of interesting titles released in the last few days. Let’s catch up!

Wallace & Gromit: The Last Resort for iPad ($4.99) is a port of the second episode in Telltale Games’ Wallace & Gromit point-and-click adventure game series. The release marks the iPad debut for the Aardman-animated pair, and given the quality of Telltale’s previously released iPad port of Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone, this one seems like a sure bet for adventure game fans.

Osmos for iPad ($4.99) brings the award-winning PC title to the iPad with an all-new multitouch control scheme. The game puts players in control of a single-celled organism that must absorb surrounding smaller objects to grow larger. The organism shrinks when it moves, however, so players must choose a careful path through each level.

The later levels of the original game were a bit too taxing for my PC to handle (sad), but I definitely liked what I played of it. Osmos has already established itself as a top seller on the iPad, and currently earns a five-star rating from a majority of App Store reviewers.

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Back at GDC we sat down with the guys from 99 Games who showed us an early build of The Jim and Frank Mysteries – The Blood River Files [99¢] which has since been picked up by Chillingo and arrived on the App Store. If you've played a Professor Layton game on the Nintendo DS before, The Jim and Frank Mysteries is a shockingly competent Layton lookalike with the professor and his sidekick Luke replaced by Jim and Frank, a team of teenage boys sent off on a quest by their grandfather as part of an odd 15th birthday celebration ritual.

Gameplay is identical to that of the Layton games in that Jim and Frank set out on a strange adventure, moving from screen to screen, talking to the various inhabitants of the game world, and solving 60 unique puzzles. Instead of the "hint coins" found in Professor Layton, Jim and Frank have "eurekas" which are similarly hidden in the game world and are collected by tapping on them. These eurekas are used as an in-game currency of sorts, which explains why Jim and Frank's adventure only costs a buck.

If you get stuck on a puzzle, you're able to unlock hints which will only cost you one of your eurekas for the first hint, and an additional eureka for the second. If you're still stumped, you can skip a puzzle entirely at the cost of many more eurekas. Of the two puzzles I've tried to skip, the first one would cost 15 with 20 required to skip the second. Aside from finding them in the game world, eurekas are currently available as an in-app purchase with 30 for 99¢, 75 for $1.99, and 120 for $2.99. Of course, if you're good at puzzle games, these are entirely optional and you could complete the entire game without burning a single eureka.

The included puzzles are your standard array of math and logic puzzles which you've undoubtedly encountered before somewhere, either in various childhood brain teaser books, similar video games, and other places. Old standbys such as figuring out how to separate liquid to a certain amount using three differently sized containers, sliding puzzles of all types, mazes, map puzzles, and others are all there. I've yet to come across a puzzle type that felt unique to this game, but as a veteran of the Layton series, that doesn't come as much of a surprise.

Mixed amongst the puzzles are several different mini games. For instance, the first one begins when you come across a creepy old man in the middle of the woods who needs help chopping wood. Naturally, this team of teenage boys fulfill the old man's desires and begin chopping away in a reaction-based mini game where you tap the screen to chop as a log scrolls from right to left. These mini games are fairly simple, but serve to offer an even wider variety to the things Jim and Frank will need to do on their adventure.

Jim and Frank includes some limited voice overs, which take over during important parts of the game. The whole beginning of your adventure is narrated, and as far as iPhone game voice work is concerned, it really isn't half bad. The story is silly as you would expect, with dialog that often left me raising an eyebrow. When we talked to 99 Games back at GDC, they seemed excited for the Jim and Frank Mysteries to continue past this first installment, so with any luck there will be many more mysteries for the teenage duo to unravel in the future.

Regardless of how you feel about the incredible similarities between The Jim and Frank Mysteries and Professor Layton games, we'll likely never see Layton on the iPhone, so a highly "inspired" game is just as good in my book. The amount of content included in Jim and Frank borders on ridiculous at its current launch price of a dollar. With hours and hours of gameplay (99 Games claims over 20), 60 puzzles, 8 mini games, and a cast of nearly 30 characters, this isn't a game you should miss.

Sure, it would be easy to get wound up over the in app purchases to buy eurekas, but these are entirely optional especially since it wouldn't surprise me if the Jim and Frank thread on our forums quickly turned in to a great place to go for when you get stuck in game.

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An upgraded version of what many consider to be one of the greatest point-and-click adventure games of all time has arrived for the iPhone and iPad.

LucasArts’ Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Special Edition ($7.99) and Monkey Island 2: Special Edition for iPad ($9.99) offer redrawn graphics, improved animation, and complete character voiceovers, along with a bevy of other new features.

A sequel to The Secret of Monkey Island (which itself saw an upgraded release for the iPhone and iPod Touch last year), Monkey Island 2 thrusts would-be mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood into a series of weird situations that require quick wit and obscure logic to conquer.

The Special Edition of Monkey Island 2 features an overhauled control scheme to make the experience more intuitive. Players can now take direct control over Guybrush, rather than pointing and clicking to guide him throughout the adventure. Another optional feature highlights items and background details that serve as points of interaction.

Purists, on the other hand, may prefer the game’s included Classic Mode, which can be enabled at any point during gameplay. This mode is mostly faithful to the original computer versions of Monkey Island 2, though players may now enable voiceovers as an optional feature.

Though the Classic Mode has been criticized for a variety of technical issues and the game’s iMuse soundtrack has taken a serious hit in both modes, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition otherwise seems like a great fit for iOS platforms. Free Lite versions (iPhone / iPad) are also available.

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